Emmy The Great shares ‘Mahal Kita’

Emmy The Great has just shared her beautiful new track ‘Mahal Kita’, accompanied by aGuardian essay on her interviews with Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong.

Emmy The Great has also announced a string of EU tour dates for March 2016. Dates + info below…

20th March – PARIS – Paris Pop Up Du Label

22nd March – GENT – Trefpunt

23rd March – AMSTERDAM – De Roode Doos

24th March – COLOGNE – Theatre WG

26th March – HAMBURG – Haken

27th March – COPENHAGEN – Ideal Bar

28th March – BERLIN – Auster Bar

30th March – FRANKFURT – Zoom Club

31st March – LAUSAANE – Bleu Lezard

1st April – VARESE – Twiggy

2nd April – CAPRI – Mattatoio

The new single “Mahal Kita”, which is released today on Bella Union, is about her time interviewing migrant women in Hong Kong’s Central District…

“Since the early 1980’s, domestic workers have congregated in Hong Kong’s public spaces every Sunday, their weekly statutory rest day, and on a further ten public holidays.

Tens of thousands of women sit on cardboard or plastic mats, in the shadow of five-star hotels, major bank buildings, and storefronts with luxury brandnames etched across them in glowing cursive.

They picnic, or cut hair, hold beauty competitions, bridal showers, take part in dance routines. They reclaim public space and transform it into a sanctuary, a place to relax, to share information, to cement networks of support and camaraderie.

There are 380,000 migrant workers in Hong Kong, earning a minimum wage of approx US$550 a month. They are mostly women, many of whom are mothers working to support their families.

For the many workers who suffer abuse, the Sunday gatherings are an essential route to access help, or to learn about their rights.

This is why Central is the spiritual home of Hong Kong’s migrant activist community, who have been advocating for migrant women since they first arrived in the city.

Mahal Kita is a record of my time interviewing domestic workers in Hong Kong, where I was born.

I hope this song will be a tribute to every migrant worker who took Hong Kong’s public space and made it their own.”